


i know this isn’t like me, i just want people to like me

by iloveyou_iknow (llostt_in_ttranslationn)



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, F/M, Pizzie brotp, Recreational Drug Use, also Pandon and Lanzie because fuck canon, hope is the outcast as usual, jed smokes a lot of pot, josie is the hbic, landon is mysterious and sad and lives with the parks as a foster kid, lizzie is the one left in the shadows, penelope is the rebel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 05:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20652227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llostt_in_ttranslationn/pseuds/iloveyou_iknow
Summary: Life would be a whole lot easier for everyone if they all just ditched the pining and told each other how they really feel.OrNo magic AU with Pizzie brotp and Posie/Hizzie slowburn endgame.





	i know this isn’t like me, i just want people to like me

**Author's Note:**

> hi sorry the tags and summary are such a mess i’ll probably clean it up at some point. but anyway i finished my henelope bropt series and thought i’d give pizzie some love as well.

“Cool book you got there. Mind if I take a look?”

Lizzie’s eyes snap up, wide with anxiety. “N-no thank you.”

Obviously, her words don’t matter. The book she’d been reading is yanked out of her hands.

“Connor, give it back, please.”

He just laughs. “Nah. I think I’ll take a couple pages first.”

And Lizzie watches helplessly as he flips through the pages and latches onto a few, still laughing as he begins to pull, reading to tear them out.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

Connor freezes, and Lizzie catches the flash of fear in his eyes before his expression relaxes and he spins around with his most smarmy smirk. “Why’s that, Park? I’m just being chummy with my girl’s sister.”

Penelope struts closer, as indifferent as ever. She plucks the book out of Connor’s in a moment of his weakness at her approach.

“Funny, Connor. Because it looked a little like you were getting ready to commit destruction of property. Vandalism can have a pretty hefty fine if someone reports it,” Penelope tells him.

Connor rolls his eyes. “It’s just a book.”

Penelope shrugs. “And my mother is _just_ the city’s best lawyer. Who happens to have a huge soft spot for Lizzie and would gladly prosecute the shit out of you for the smallest of crimes against her.”

“Whatever,” Connor scoffs. “I’m outta here.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Penelope offers a charming smirk. “Try not to commit any other misdeamers today, big guy.”

She gives him a hefty pat on the shoulder, ending it with a not-so gentle shove in the opposite direction, smirking deeper as he stumbles in his rush to escape the tense situation.

Penelope plops down next to Lizzie on one of the couches in the school’s common room.She sets the book down on Lizzie’s lap and grins. “‘sup, Lizard?”

Lizzie rolls her eyes, nudging her shoulder against Penelope’s. “That was quite the show you just put on, Pennywise.”

Penelope winces at the nickname, but she just shrugs at Lizzie’s words. “You know one of my favorite hobbies is knocking Connor down a peg.”

Lizzie laughs lightly. “Josie’s gonna give you an earful about it.”

“Can’t wait,” Penelope smirks. “It’ll be refreshing for her to dig into me about something other than my tattoos and my weed.”

“You’re such an instigator, P.”

Penelope’s eyes widen comically and her face melts into a faux innocent expression. “Who, little ole me? I would _never_.”

Lizzie laughs at her best friend’s antics.

Penelope glances around the mostly empty room, before releasing the tension in her posture and slumping against Lizzie’s side, her head landing on Lizzie’s shoulder heavily.

“You okay?”

Penelope hums, eyes sliding closed. “Rough night.”

“Nightmares?” Lizzie guesses.

“Jed’s,” Penelope confirms.

Lizzie frowns, wrapping an arm around Penelope’s shoulders so the other girl can adjust to be more comfortable.

“He and Landon stayed home today,” Penelope tells her.

“Wait, if Jed isn’t in school—“

Lizzie cuts herself off as someone enters the room noisily, the clunking of heavy boots announcing her entrance before she can be seen rounding through the doorway.

Penelope opens her eyes but doesn’t move.

And Lizzie’s unfinished question is answered as Hope Mikaelson shuffles across the room, right towards them.

She doesn’t say anything as she collapses onto the armchair perpendicular to the couch.

Lizzie keeps her eyes on the girl, remaining silent since Penelope doesn’t greet her, either.

Hope sits with practiced nonchalance, eyes on the phone in her hand, but Lizzie spends enough time watching her to know that she’s alert to everything around her.

And that includes—

“Need something, Saltzman?”

Lizzie blinks, unsurprised at being caught, but having no idea how to respond.

Hope raises an eyebrow, blue eyes taunting Lizzie without words.

Lizzie feels her cheeks redden, and she averts her gaze to the book that lays forgotten on her lap.

She can feel more than hear Penelope chuckle slightly against her shoulder, and if she didn’t feel bad because of how little sleep her best friend got the previous night, she might have shoved Penelope off the couch for laughing at her awkwardness around the mysterious auburn-haired girl.

The three of them remain in a comfortable silence for a while longer, until the bell rings to warn them that their next period class beins in five minutes.

Hope rises to her feet first, meeting Lizzie’s eyes and then Penelope’s, giving one short nod as a farewell before she slinks out of the room.

“You’re crush on her is a little embarrassing, Lizzie,” Penelope chuckles as she picks up her backpack from the floor.

“Stop,” Lizzie grumbles, blushing once again.

Penelope grins. “I don’t blame you, because she’s smoking hot, but she doesn’t really strike me as the warm and fuzzy relationship type of gal.”

Lizzie hoists her bag onto her shoulder with a sigh. “You don’t have to remind me. I’m well aware.”

“Wanna skip Calc and get high behind the bleachers?” Penelope offers.

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Neither of us are gonna do that.”

“I bet Mikaelson will be there,” Penelope wiggles her eyebrows.

“Not without Jed,” Lizzie shoots back.

Penelope shrugs, not bothering to comment on Lizzie’s knowledge of Hope’s patterns. “Fine, we’ll tough it out two more periods. But you better not be a buzzkill later. It’s Friday.”

“We can get as high as you want as long as you don’t try and drag me to Kaleb’s party.”

“Deal,” Penelope agrees easily.

Normally, she’d want to go, because free booze is one of her favorite things, but Penelope would rather spend the night smoking with her cousin and best friends instead of going out knowing that they’d be suffering back at home.

Penelope counts herself lucky for not running into Josie Saltzman during the last couple hours of the day.

Sure, she thinks Lizzie’s twin is the hottest girl she’s ever seen, but _damn_ is the other girl’s HBIC persona is exhausting to Penelope. And she’s too tired to put up with their usual back-and-forth bickering today.

“I can’t believe we have Calc homework over the weekend,” Penelope complains as she slumps into the driver’s seat of her too-fancy car after the last class of the school day.

“It’s easy stuff,” Lizzie says from the passenger’s seat. “We can do it real quick when we get to your house and then not have to worry about it the rest of the weekend.”

“_Lizzie_,” Penelope whines. “You can’t seriously be trying to get me to do homework on a Friday night.”

“It’ll take twenty minutes,” Lizzie tells her. “Then I’ll roll you a blunt and we can get high while we watch shitty horror movies in your basement.”

“Fine,” Penelope grumbles, practically pouting.

Lizzie gives a pleased smile as Penelope puts the car in gear and prepares to merge into the mob of cars trying to leave the student parking lot all at once.

Their homework actually takes a little under an hour to complete, because Penelope goofs off more often than she focuses on the textbook in front of them.

“Hey.”

Both girls look up to see Jed leaning against the doorway of Penelope’s room.

“How’re you feeing?” Penelope asks.

Jed shrugs. “Landon and I went for a drive to the cliffs earlier.”

Driving up the mountain that looms over their city and standing on one of the cliffs where it all looks so small below is quite cathartic. The Park cousins spend time up there a lot, screaming into the open air and tossing rocks off the edge with as much force as they can. It offers an outlet for them to release their emotions without having to verbalize them, which they are both notoriously bad at doing.

“Wanna smoke with us?”

Jed cracks a small grin. “Hell yeah.”

“Where’s Landon?” Lizzie wonders.

“Napping,” Jed fidgets uncomfortably.

The two girls don’t need him to tell them why. Landon spent just as much of the night awake as Penelope had, trying to comfort Jed after what surely was a terrorizing nightmare of the car crash that lead to both of his parents’ deaths.

Nobody would ever say it, but they all know he’d prefer being kept up by Jed’s nightmares than his own. He’s lived with the Parks for nearly three years and they still barely know anything about his previous foster homes that often cause violent night terrors not so different from Jed’s own the previous night.

“Well Sleeping Beauty can join us when he wakes up,” Penelope says.

“Mind if I invite Hope?” Jed glances at Lizzie. “To make up for ditching her at school today.”

Penelope looks to Lizzie for an answer, not wanting to make the blonde uncomfortable by inviting her crush over.

“Go ahead.”

Jed gives a nod before turning and wandering off down the hallway.

“You sure you’re okay with that?” Penelope questions.

“We’ll be watching movies. It’ll be dark. I can’t be a complete nervous mess if I can’t see her,” Lizzie shrugs.

“M’kay,” Penelope hums. “Are we done yet?”

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Yes, actually.”

“Thank God,” Penelope slams the Calculus book shut. “You promised you’d roll the blunts tonight.”

Lizzie sighs. “I guess I did, didn’t I?”

“You know where I keep everything,” Penelope pops up to her feet. “I’m gonna go order Chinese food... and pizza.”

Lizzie laughs, because five teenagers with the munchies is serious business. They’ll probably devour all the food Penelope orders, and then tons of snacks as well.

“I can’t believe you like pineapple on your pizza! Lemme guess, you put ketchup on your mac and cheese, too.”

Penelope cackles at Hope’s teasing of Lizzie.

“First of all, you’re literally dipping your pizza into ranch dressing as we speak, so you’re one to talk about pizza preferences. Second of all, ew! I’d never.”

“What’s wrong with putting ketchup on mac and cheese?” Landon tilts his head in confusion. “I do it all the time.”

Lizzie and Hope share a moment of prolonged eye contact before they both burst into laughter.

Landon pouts. “What did I miss? What’s so funny?”

Jed ruffles his hair. “Nothing, buddy. Girls are just mean.”

“Wow, Jedidiah. I share my weed with you and all you do in return is insult me,” Penelope clutches at her chest in mock horror. “I’m hurt.”

Jed tosses a french fry towards Penelope’s head, but he’s too high to gauge the right amount of force to use, so it drops harmlessly onto her lap instead. She picks it up and pops it in her mouth, grinning at him. “Thanks for the fry, dumbass.”

“Ooh I want a fry!” Landon says. “Throw it and I’ll try to catch it in my mouth!”

“Someone turn on the movie!” Lizzie says, after several minutes of failed attempts by the boys. “And clean up all the fries from the ground, while you’re at it.”

“Do it yourself,” Jed protests.

A stare down ensues between the five teenagers.

Nobody moves for several minutes.

Until Hope lets out a huff and gets up the grab the remote so their movie night can begin. “I’m not touching those floor fries though!”

Three movies and two blunts later, they’ve turned the television off and the lights on.

“Yo,” Jed says during a lull in conversation. “I dunno ‘bout you guys but I literally cannot get up off my ass so I’mma just crash right here.”

“Me too,” Landon agrees.

Penelope snorts. “Have fun with your back pain tomorrow, losers.”

Hope glances down at the time on her phone. It’s officially Saturday, and her mind is incredibly cloudy. She kind of feels likes she’s on a cloud, actually. “Well, if you’re not gonna sleep in your bed, I am. Because I don’t think me driving home right now is the best idea.”

“I can drive you,” Penelope offers.

“No she can’t,” Lizzie interjects.

“I’m totally capable of driving right now. I drive when I’m stoned all the time,” Penelope rolls her eyes.

“And I tell you not to, every time!” Lizzie reminds her.

“Well then how do you expect to get home?” Penelope shoots back.

“Um, I don’t, actually,” Lizzie says. “I’m staying over, duh.”

“You better keep your icicle toes away from my legs tonight then, barbie!”

Lizzie scoffs. “Somebody help me up, though. I definitely can’t do that on my own.”

Hope pushes herself up from the couch and extends her arms down to Lizzie, who is sprawled on the ground in front of the couch.

Lizzie groans as she reaches up to grasp the other girl’s hands with her own.

_Hope’s hands are so soft,_ Lizzie thinks to herself.

“Thank you,” Hope giggles.

Okay, maybe Lizzie’s inside voice became her outside voice for a moment there, and her cheeks flush bright pink as Penelope cackles from her position on the floor.

Hope pulls Lizzie to her feet gently, placing a hand lightly on her hip to steady her as she stumbles to gain her proper footing after so much time laying on the floor and not using her legs.

That might make Lizzie even more dizzy, if she’s honest.

Hope yanks Penelope up with visibly less gentleness, but the rest of the room’s occupants are too high to notice the difference.

“Ugh, stairs,” Penelope grumbles as the trio climb up the steps to leave the basement.

“You better not fall back into us,” Lizzie warns her.

Penelope scoffs.

“Can you two save the banter for bed and hurry up?” Hope complains from behind them. “I’m tired and I wanna go to sleep.”

“Somebody’s being a grumpypants,” Penelope laughs as she continues her slow pace ascending the stairs.

They make it to the first floor, and then the second without any incident, and Hope hums a goodnight to the other two girls as she shuffles into Jed’s bedroom.

“I’m proud of you for not being a complete fool in front of her tonight,” Penelope smirks as she and Lizzie are climbing into bed a few minutes later.

“Bitch,” Lizzie mutters, extending her legs so her cold toes press into Penelope’s calf.

Penelope yelps at the freezing cold touch. “I know you are, but what am I?”

“Go to sleep, idiot.”

“You first.”

And Lizzie takes that as an invitation, because she’s exhausted and Penelope’s bed is way more comfortable than it has any right to be.

_Stupid rich kids and their stupidly nice things._

“Lizzie!”

And suddenly it’s morning.

Lizzie groans. “Go away.”

Her head is still fuzzy and all she wants is to sleep for five more hours.

“Your dad keeps calling your phone.”

That gets Lizzie’s attention, and she jolts up into a sitting position, grabbing her phone from Penelope’s extended hand.

“Did you tell him you were sleeping over? Or did you forget?” Penelope asks.

“Dude of course I forgot, otherwise he wouldn’t be blowing up my phone,” Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Just like you forgot to take out your contacts last night, huh?”

Penelope reaches up and fidgets with her glasses. And yeah, she’s really going to need to work on getting her high self to remember to not fall asleep wearing contacts. Because the burning in her eyes when she wakes up the next day is not fun.

Lizzie scrolls through the many texts from her father before typing out a reply apologizing for worrying him and saying that she’ll be home ‘soon’.

“I love when he pretends to care about me,” Lizzie scoffs, tossing her phone onto the bed next to her.

“You know he does.”

Lizzie shrugs. “I miss my mom.”

“How much longer is she on that business trip?” Penelope asks.

Another shrug.

“C’mon, let’s head downstairs. Jed is making waffles,” Penelope reaches out and tugs on Lizzie’s hand.

“Is Hope still here?”

Penelope smirks. “She’s still asleep. Do you wanna be the one to wake her up?”

Lizzie shakes her head quickly. “No! That’d be so awkward.”

Penelope laughs. “Okay, okay. Chillax. We’ll have Landon do it.”

“You’re not going to?” Lizzie asks, letting Penelope tug her out of the room.

“Nah. She’s especially grumpy in the morning. I’m not about to get her rage.”

“I bet she’s adorable in the morning,” Lizzie murmurs, mostly to herself.

Penelope snickers. “Guess you’ll see for yourself in a few minutes.”

Lizzie blushes.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite blonde! Good morning, Elizabeth!”

Lizzie cringes. “Why are you so peppy right now?”

“Jed is the biggest morning person,” Penelope plops onto one of the stools at the counter, and Lizzie joins her quickly.

“It’s pretty disgusting,” Landon adds.

“Hey!” Jed protests. “One more insult and nobody but me is getting these delicious waffles!”

“What about me?”

Lizzie nearly chokes on her own spit at the sound of Hope’s voice. It’s scratchier than usual, and a little deeper with lack of use throughout the night.

Jed hums in contemplation. “Maybe.”

Hope scoffs, crossing the kitchen over to the coffee pot.

Lizzie traces the other girl’s movement with her eyes.

As if she can feel Lizzie’s gaze (she probably can, damn intuition), Hope glances over to where Penelope and Lizzie are sat, meeting Lizzie’s eyes with a quirked eyebrow.

“Want some coffee, Liz?”

Lizzie’s brain short-circuits at the nickname. “Uh— um, n-no. No thank you.”

Hope smirks as she pours herself a cup of coffee, clearly pleased at the effect she has on the blonde. “P, how about you?”

“Yes. You’re a godsend, Mikaelson.”

Hope winks, pulling a second mug down from the rack that they’re on.

She carefully carries the two full mugs over to the counter where the other two girls are sitting, passing one to Penelope before she takes a seat on the other side of Lizzie, who gulps nervously at the proximity.

“Cute glasses, Penelope,” Hope snickers. “Really meshes well with your badass vibe.”

“I didn’t ask to be born blind!” Penelope whines, sipping on her coffee with a pout.

“I bet you’d look good in glasses, Liz,” Hope smirks.

Lizzie just blinks stupidly in response, unable to form words.

“Waffle time!” Jed announces, saving Lizzie from too much more embarrassment.

Eventually, Lizzie does have to return to her own house, as much as she’d rather stay at the Park residence all day.

“I can drop you off on my way home,” Hope offers as she’s slipping her feet into her boots.

Lizzie looks to Penelope with wide eyes.

The raven-haired girl rolls her eyes at the gay mess that her best friend is. “That’d be great, Hope.”

“As long as it’s not too much trouble!” Lizzie says quickly.

Hope shrugs. “No trouble at all.”

“O-okay.”

Lizzie quickly gathers her things from Penelope’s bedroom before lingering by the front door as Hope has a hushed conversation with Jed in the living room.

Penelope gives her forearm a gentle squeeze. “You’ll be fine. Just try not to stare at her like she put the stars in the sky and you won’t embarrass yourself too much.”

Lizzie glares at the other girl. “You’re not helping.”

“Text me when you get home with an update on how weird she thinks you are after that drive.”

Lizzie smacks Penelope’s shoulder for that comment.

Penelope just grins.

“Ready, Saltzman?” Hope asks as she walks over to them.

“Totally!” Lizzie squeaks.

Hope gives Penelope a nod goodbye before heading out of the house and toward her car.

Penelope gives Lizzie a gentle nudge. “See you Monday.”

“Yeah. Bye,” Lizzie shuffles out of the house, awkwardly trailing after Hope.

She climbs into the passenger’s seat of Hope’s car, noting that it is just as excessively expensive as Penelope’s.

“Why don’t you go to a private school?” Lizzie wonders.

Everyone knows how rich Hope’s family is. They could probably own their own fancy boarding school if they really wanted to.

Hope glances at Lizzie as she pulls out onto the street. “Wouldn’t fit in.”

“You don’t really fit in at Mystic Falls High, either.”

Lizzie clamps a hand over her mouth after her words.

“Sorry! That didn’t come out right!” She says quickly.

Hope shrugs. “S’okay. You’re not wrong.”

Lizzie wants to slam her head against something solid to put herself out of her misery, and the drive has only just began.

“I guess I figured that I’d have an easier time being an outcast at a public school. Less kids will know about the weight of my last name, y’know?”

“Is that why you’re friends with Jed? Because he has his own fortune so he won’t use you for yours.”

“I’m friends with Jed because he grows his own weed and gets me on a level that no one else does,” Hope tells her.

“Because he lost his parents, too?”

Hope chuckles bitterly. “Us orphans gotta stick together.”

“Sorry,” Lizzie says. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You’re fine,” Hope sighs. “Sorry. I’m not very good at the whole being nice thing. Which is why Jed and I get along, honestly.”

“It’s okay. Penelope’s not always nice, either,” Lizzie reminds her.

Hope rolls her eyes. “I’ve seen you tear people down a peg or two before.”

Lizzie blushes.

“Not recently, though,” Hope notes. “You’ve really melted into your sister’s shadow these days.”

Lizzie frowns. Hope isn’t exactly wrong.

“Sorry,” Hope says. “Was that rude?”

“No, no,” Lizzie assures her. “I just didn’t think you noticed me enough to realize that.”

Hope seems completely unaffected at Lizzie’s comment. “How could anyone not notice you?”

“Pretty easily, actually. With Josie as my sister, I’m usually barely an afterthought,” Lizzie explains.

“Shame,” Hope hums.

That seems to be the end of Hope’s willingness to talk, so Lizzie remains quiet, too.

The radio plays softly for the rest of the short drive, and no other words are had until Hope puts the car in park outside of Lizzie’s house.

“Thanks for driving me home, Hope,” Lizzie meets the other girl’s eyes briefly before pushing open her door.

Hope offers a nod in response, and Lizzie figures that’s the only goodbye she’s going to get, so she begins to get out of the car.

“Bye, Lizzie,” comes a soft voice just as Lizzie goes to close the door.

Hope isn’t looking in her direction, but Lizzie smiles at her anyway. “Bye, Hope.”

And Lizzie is a little surprised that Hope doesn’t drive away until she reaches the front door and manages to unlock it without much fumbling. She didn’t think the auburn-haired girl would be so considerate.

“Glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence after a night of keeping us worrying, Elizabeth.”

Lizzie sighs, her serene bubble bursting at her father’s voice.

It’s going to be a long afternoon.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you thought here or find me on twitter @ _iloveyou_iknow


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